Chocolate of the sea: Cook wows national contest judges with shrimp recipe

Friday

Jun 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMJun 27, 2008 at 12:58 AM

Don’t be too quick to turn your nose up at Alison Brantley’s Chocolate Basil Shrimp. One taste and you might just find that it’s pretty darned good.

Elizabeth Davies

Don’t be too quick to turn your nose up at Alison Brantley’s Chocolate Basil Shrimp. One taste and you might just find that it’s pretty darned good.

That’s what judges in the Green & Black’s Chocolate Challenge decided, and they named Brantley’s chocolate shrimp recipe one of the five best entries in their national competition. Her recipe was among one other appetizer and three desserts selected. Each recipe had to feature Green & Black organic chocolate, and only use five ingredients.

“I knew I couldn’t do a dessert,” Brantley said. “A lot of people would do something with desserts, and that’s not really my thing.”

So after seeing a commercial featuring a chocolate-covered chili pepper, Brantley was inspired. She began playing with seafood dishes, bringing in both chocolate and peppers to offer an exotic taste.

“I was thinking about Thai foods and Asian foods,” she said. “They have that spice, with a sweet undertone.”

Trying to keep the number of ingredients down, she melted the chocolate into chili oil for a unique taste. Not sure whether to submit this recipe for the competition, she had friends give it a taste.

“ ‘Chocolate and seafood: That’s so disgusting. Who would do that?’ ” she remembers them saying. “They were surprised. They were like, ‘This is really good.’ ”

The winning recipe took the 26-year-old Dixon Realtor to New York City for the chance to shop and cook with famed chef Curtis Stone, of TLC’s “Take-Home Chef.”

From Stone, Brantley learned that extra virgin olive oil is best used in salad dressings and dips — not for cooking. It’s a mistake she’ll never make again.

Brantley also took her first trip to organic grocery store Whole Foods while on her trip to New York. It was the chance for her to examine the kinds of organic ingredients she doesn’t often see in the Rock River Valley.

“Living in this area, I don’t think it’s as abundant,” she said. “But if I have the chance, I’ll get it. Honestly, the flavor is so much better. And it’s nice to know what you’re putting in your body, that there’s nothing artificial.”

Brantley, who has been cooking since she was a child, now spends her free time whipping up gourmet dishes. While she has a handful of other hobbies, she says there’s nothing she would rather do with an empty afternoon than play around with a new recipe.

“I’m happy in the kitchen,” she said. “If it takes two or three hours, all the better. It’s an escape for me.”

Brush wonton wraps with 2 tablespoons of chili oil. In a mini muffin pan, twist wonton wraps into cups making a flowerlike shape. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat shrimp in 2 tablespoons chili oil, about 2 to 3 minutes, just to warm. Rinse and dry basil leaves. Melt chocolate in a double boiler and mix in remaining chili oil.

With 2 ounces chocolate — spoon chocolate halfway down on the sides of each wonton cup and in the center, reserving enough chocolate to top shrimp. Place 2 basil leaves per cup and one shrimp. Drizzle remaining chocolate across shrimp.

With remaining melted chocolate, draw a stem on four appetizer plates and decorate with a few small basil leaves. Place 2 cups per stem, making “blooms.”

Serves 4.

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